TEENS, TEENS AND MORE TEENS - Content

TEENS, TEENS AND MORE TEENS

Three movies this week are set in and around high schools, two of them uplifting sports stories and a third that appears to be yet another raunchy teen comedy.

For Hicksflicks.com, Friday, Feb. 20, 2015

“McFarland, USA” (PG). Kevin Costner stars as Jim White, the real-life McFarland, California, high school coach that built a team of champion track runners by helping disenfranchised Hispanic kids find their way and helping to boost their self-esteem. Maria Bello co-stars.

“The Playbook” (PG). Australian sports/faith film about a basketball coach whose religious convictions are shattered after a tragedy, which forces him to work at getting past his rage, learning to forgive and rebuilding his team.

“The DUFF” (PG-13) is a teen rom-com about a high school senior (Mae Whitman) who is told she’s a DUFF, which stands for Designated Ugly Fat Friend, someone who’s kept around to make the other girls look better. So she plots revenge.

“Hot Tub Time Machine 2” (R). Raunchy comedy sequel to the original, which had three losers at a ski resort spilling an illegal Russian energy drink into a hot tub, which caused them to be transported back to 1986. Here, some of the cast returns as they travel into the future.

“Mr. Turner” (R) is a British-French-German co-production about the life of controversial British painter J.M.W. Turner (Timothy Spall), an eccentric artist that lived unconventionally and took extreme steps in preparing for this work.

“Match” (R) is an intimate drama written and directed by Stephen Belber, adapting his own 2004 play about an aging ex-dancer (Patrick Stewart) now teaching at Julliard. He is approached by a couple (Matthew Lillard, Carla Gugino) that want to interview him for a dissertation on dancers of the 1960s. But soon he begins to realize that they have ulterior motives.